How The Healthcare System Works

If You Catch A Cold, Then...

Visit or call the family doctor
In Estonia, everybody has a family doctor, which is usually the first place any individual will turn to if they have caught a cold, or have any routine health problems. From there, the doctor will then assess the case, and either prescribe treatment or write you a prescription to visit a specialist. In most cases, you can't book a free meeting with a specialist doctor if you don't have a family doctor's prescription, but there are exceptions, depending on the specialist.

Choose your doctor
You can choose any family doctor in your area if they have courtesy availability. For this, you must be an Estonian resident. You can call the Estonian Health Board number (+372) 794 3500 for assistance in finding out which doctors in your area are available for you to utilize. Also, you can choose and select a suitable doctor online through the Estonian Health Board’s registry. The registry is only in the Estonian language, though, which means that you should find someone to help with the translation, or use Google Translate's free service.

Call 1220 for advice
If you have health questions, you can always call the general practitioner's public line, 1220, which is available 24/7. Health advice is available in English and Russian, and if needed, they can direct you to the emergency line. 

Ask for sick leave
If you are feeling ill and can't go in to work, the first thing to do is to call your family doctor and request to start sick leave. By Estonian law, the first 3 days you are on sick leave, you do not get any sickness benefit. There are some bigger companies who offer their employees sickness benefits from day 2, but it is not very common. The general rule is that for days 4-8 days of sickness, your employer will pay you 70% of your salary. Starting on the 9th day, the Health Insurance Fund will cover your sick benefits. 

If you have an emergency, then..

Call 112, or go to the emergency room
If there is an emergency, you should either go to the emergency room, or call the emergency number: 112. Emergency care is free for everyone, even for those who are not covered by health insurance. Emergency rooms are located at hospitals. 

Read more about Estonian healthcare: 
https://www.workinestonia.com/living-in-estonia/healthcare-overview/

What if I'm not eligible for state healthcare?

If you are living in Estonia with a temporary residence permit, you must purchase insurance for the time living here. There are private providers available for that: ERGO and Salva are recommended companies in Estonia, but there are also international providers, like Swisscare or Cigna.